Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Allegiant by Veronica Roth (2013)

526 pages

Series: Divergent #3

Goodreads Summary: The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.

Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

This is the third and final book in the Divergent series. When I read the first two, I couldn’t wait to get to the next book. It’d been so long since I read Insurgent that I forgot a lot about what happened. But after a quick summary from Wikipedia, I jumped into this book.

A lot of people talked about the different perspectives which not everyone liked. The first two books were told exclusively from Tris’ point of view. This book alternated between Tris and Four which was somewhat confusing at first because I had to keep reminding myself who was who. I didn’t feel like there was a huge difference in their voices but by the end of the book it became obvious why this tactic was used.

I was really glad they explored the outside world and finally explained a lot of things. I felt like there was a cliffhanger at the end of the first book and I don’t remember the second really addressing it satisfactorily. The explanation was really fascinating and I was surprised about how much thought went into it.

Additionally, I felt like there was a much deeper message the author was trying to convey. The first book definitely had some great points but I was so surprised at how much more there was. In the first book there is division between factions. In this book there was even more division between two groups of people which I felt was commentary on differences between nations, races, or even sexes. It was said that this certain group of “people are technically–legally–equal to genetically pure people, but only on paper, so to speak. In reality they’re poorer, more likely to be convicted of crimes, less likely to be hired for good jobs…you name it, it’s a problem, and has been since the Purity War, over a century ago.”

And just the mention of a Purity War reminded me of the holocaust which was supposed to purify a certain race. Even the people helping the cause were called sympathizers, a term that means the same thing in our world.

The book also raised the question of obedience, government authority, and trusting experts over yourself. In one scene, Christina and Tris are talking about whether the scientists are right or if they’ve been mislead: ”I don’t know why I’m arguing with you when I’d really like for you to be right,” Christina says, laughing. ”But don’t you think a bunch of smart people like these Bureau scientists could figure out the cause of bad behavior?” “Sure,” I say. “But I think that no matter how smart, people usually see what they’re already looking for, that’s all.”

And then later, “You don’t believe things because they make your life better, you believe them because they’re true,” she points out. “But”–I speak slowly as I mull that over–”isn’t looking at the result of a belief a good way of evaluating if it’s true?” So it seems the author is saying you shouldn’t just accept things as facts because scientists or even the government present them as truths.

There were many other things that jumped out at me as having multiple meanings and interpretations. As I read I thought that Veronica Roth is really clever in that she created a series for young adults that is entertaining and fun to read but also thought-provoking and addresses very real issues. Even if this wasn’t her original intention, I think it was very well done and will make this series remain popular and well-read for a long time.

There was one other quote that really struck me and it is when Tris says, “Listen, I…I used to think about giving my life for things, but I didn’t understand what ‘giving your life’ really was until it was right there, about to be taken from me.”

For some reason when I read that it just really hit me what it means to truly give your life for something. I’ve had the feeling that I would die for certain things I feel to be right and true, but it was really just an idea for me. If I were really faced with a situation where I could do something to get out of it and not die, would I feel the same? I thought it really brought some weight to the book and made me examine my own feelings.

All in all a fun, entertaining, page-turner but with a lot of depth that made me think and get to know myself better. What more can you ask for of a book? I really loved it and would recommend it (and the rest of the series) to everyone regardless of age.